论文总字数：47626字

摘 要

在跨文化交际中，言语交际不是唯一的，非言语交际同样占据了很重要的地位。但不同的非言语行为在不同的文化背景下所表达的意思可能完全不同。随着中国的日渐强壮，越来越多的外国人开始学习中文。而教师与学生往往来自不同的国家，这就使得上课过程不是那么容易。如今，课堂教学是学生与教师之间一个常见的交流过程，在对外汉语教学课堂中，教师使用各种非言语行为和学生进行交流和沟通。

本文先对非言语交际在对外教学中的定义和重要性进行了表述。然后，将非言语交际在对外教学中的教学意识、教学技巧和教学方法进行了详细分析。最后结合具体的教学案例从字词以及简单句的教学进行分析，从非语言交际中的偏误进行成因分析，以便在对外教学中充分发挥其引导作用，达到最佳的课堂教学效果。

关键词：非言语交际；对外汉语教学；教学效果

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Background Information 1

1.2 Significance of the Research 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Types and Functions of Nonverbal Communication 2

2.2 Research on Nonverbal Acts at Home and Abroad 5

2.3 The Purpose and Significance of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language 7

3. Nonverbal Communication in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language 7

3.1 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Awareness 8

3.2 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Skill 10

3.3 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Method 12

4. The Application of nonverbal Acts in the Classroom of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language 12

4.1 Nonverbal Acts in Words Teaching 13

4.2 Nonverbal Acts in Simple Sentences Teaching 15

4.3 The Errors in Nonverbal Communication and the Causes 16

5. Conclusion 18

Works Cited 20

Introduction

1.1 Background Information

For a long time in China’s teaching Chinese as a foreign language, teachers and scholars tend to think that the purpose of teaching Chinese as a foreign language is to make the students be able to communicate fluently in Chinese. Therefore, most of the teaching focuses on verbal communication and lacks self-consciousness and ignores the role of nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Thus, Chinese foreign language teachers are usually in a spontaneous state, and they are not clearly aware of the importance of nonverbal communication behaviors in the class of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In addition, the Chinese language syllabuses and textbooks rarely discuss or talk about the nonverbal communication behaviors in the classroom, so teachers and students cannot really realize the essentiality of nonverbal communication in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language.

Since scholars have been involved in the field of communication, most scholars have shown solicitude for the contents of verbal communication. At this time, the study of verbal communication involves lots of contents and has made great accomplishments. Relatively, although the research on nonverbal communication is involved, it is rare, not to mention the nonverbal communication in the study of Chinese as a foreign language. Actually, the role of nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language cannot be ignored. In China, the main teaching method for foreign students to learn Chinese is classroom teaching. Nonverbal communication has many functions in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Sometimes it is more important than verbal communication. It can spread the meaning and information that many verbal communication can’t express. The author believes that this topic is worth studying and discussing.

1.2 Significance of the Research

The study of nonverbal communication is relatively rare. Some people even think that verbal communication is the sole way for people to communicate. Most teachers and students don’t realize the communicative function of nonverbal behaviors in the classroom. However, it is important. This type of situation has changed a lot now. While diverse teaching modes and rich connotations are cross-cultural nonverbal communicative competence, which cannot be ignored in the cultivation. Teachers use appropriate nonverbal behaviors in the classroom to do more with less. The use of nonverbal behavior will be beneficial to the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The overall efficiency has been improved.

This thesis tries to explore the development status, definition, functions of nonverbal communication and its application in the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The essentiality of nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, the use of nonverbal communication in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language, how to consciously use effective nonverbal communication in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language and the problems that should be paid attention to during the application are analyzed and elaborated. The unity of nonverbal communication and teaching of Chinese as a foreign language makes nonverbal communication more rational in the use of Chinese as a foreign language, creating a harmonious and friendly classroom environment for international students, allowing students to be motivated and enjoyable in a pleasant learning environment. Teachers take full advantage of their guiding role, which will maximize the teaching effect.

Literature Review

2.1 Types and Functions of Nonverbal Communication

Human communication means mainly have two kinds, which are verbal communication and nonverbal communication. In addition to language, people communicate through many nonverbal ways, and the two interact and are inseparable. The significance of nonverbal communication is to convey and exchange ideas through ways that are not about any sections of language. There are many classifications of nonverbal communication. This paper only selects some of the four categories: body language, sub-language, environmental language and object language.

Body language refers to any small movements in various parts of the body, and its research objects include gestures, postures, facial expressions, and so on. Gesture refers to the hand movements that people often use in communication, but the same gestures may express completely different meanings in different cultures. For example, in China, the gesture of erecting a thumb indicates praise, while in the West, the gesture may contain derogatory meaning. Posture refers to the appearance of the body. It can reflect people’s habits, status and values. Head, eye and facial movements are nonverbal behaviors frequently used in people’s communication, and often reflect people’s subconscious activities. For example, Americans advocate keeping eye contact when talking, while in China, juniors or subordinates try to avoid looking directly at their elders or superiors.

Para-language includes silence, discourse conversion, and various non-semantic sounds, such as the size of the sound, the level of the volume, and so on. For example, in China, people’s talk, silence and pause have rich meanings. Silence can express acquiescence or express confrontation. People often express their respect or listen carefully with silence. It is an impolite behavior to interrupt the speaker. In foreign countries, silence often means that the listener is not interested in the content of the conversation, so students are often encouraged to actively ask questions and participate in the exchange.

Environmental language includes information provided by dressing and personal items. The dress and personal belongings of the person can reflect the identity, taste, occupation and other information of the person. It is an auxiliary channel for indirect understanding of the person. Therefore, the dress of the teacher in the classroom will have certain impact on the students and the teaching results.

The object language includes information provided by space, time and distance. For example, Americans do not understand the fact that Chinese people are very crowded on certain occasions. Because the United States is a “low-touch” country, it is accustomed to maintaining a proper distance between people, at least 18 cm, even in restaurants. Americans prefer to wait for a long time and don’t want to share a table with unfamiliar people, while Chinese people often sit together and express intimacy. For another example, the layout of the seats in the classroom and the location of the teacher’s station can also reflect the differences between Chinese and American cultures.

In the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, nonverbal communication plays an indispensable role. Usually, nonverbal communication behavior accompanies verbal communication and complements language communication behavior. A facial expression, a gesture, and an encouraging eye for a Chinese-speaking teacher are conveying a special expression in a class. Nonverbal communication is usually combined with language communication, playing different roles in different situations, roughly complementing, negating, regulating, repeating, emphasizing or substituting. In short, nonverbal communication can have the functions of complementing, strengthening, repeating, and negating instead. If teachers can apply it in a flexible way, the classroom atmosphere will be greatly enhanced. Nonverbal communication sometimes bears the role of replacing language communication. When a teacher is explaining the test questions, if you see the students’ sloppiness and dejected facial expressions and postures during class, you can know the students’ learning status in this class which does not need to be understood through excessive speech communication.

Nonverbal communication behavior sometimes contradicts verbal communication behavior. As a teacher of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, for example, to judge whether the defense of the students is established, which often requires the cues that appear to be looming. They must look at the changes in the expressions, postures, and lines of sight of the students. Teachers often understand the true facts. For example, when students are allowed to express their opinions in the classroom, some students may say with confidence that they are “not nervous at all”, but their faces are sweating and their knees are shaking. “Anyone who has gestures, expressions, sounds, eyes, and ways of using space can impress others.” (Yuan 24)

Nonverbal communication plays a role as a medium and bridge in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language. It can not only supplement the deficiencies in language communication, such as expressing facial expressions like joy, anger, sadness, music, etc., and can also emphasize the importance of verbal information such as raising the tone and lengthening the sound; for example, in the classroom, “there is no sound at this time”. It can be concluded that in the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, nonverbal communication can replace verbal communication to a certain extent. For example, teachers’ and students’ costumes, gestures, silences, etc. can play a corresponding role in expression, and build up a wonderful link of communication between them.

2.2 Research on Nonverbal Acts at Home and Abroad

For a long time, domestic scholars have invested a great deal of attention in the study of verbal communication, and have achieved gratifying achievements. Relatively speaking, the study of nonverbal communication has a big gap with foreign countries. It can be said that it is still in its infancy after a long period of time, which has caused many people, especially the teachers of Chinese as a foreign language to have a poor understanding of nonverbal communication. It is not clear that nonverbal communication behavior plays an important role in improving classroom efficiency, not to mention the use of Chinese as a foreign language classroom. With the strengthening of foreign exchanges in recent years, the number of contacts has increased, and many people of insight in China have slowly begun to explore nonverbal communication behaviors in intercultural communication. In the later period, domestic scholars paid more and more attention to nonverbal communication behaviors, and began to conduct in-depth research on nonverbal behaviors. A series of important achievements on nonverbal communication emerged.

In nonverbal communication: Wang Fuxiang’s “Magic Silent Language”, Li Jiequn’s “Introduction to Nonverbal Communication” and “Contrast of nonverbal Communication between China and English-speaking Countries” translated by Bi Jiwan. In terms of intercultural communication: Liu Runqing’s “Language and Culture” mainly discusses the relationship between cultural differences in intercultural communication, second language teaching and nonverbal communication behavior. The publications of these works and their related research papers have begun to reflect Chinese characteristics, Chinese scholars on the body Language, action language, etc., and have gradually formed their own research system, which has a wide and long-term impact on the study of nonverbal communication in China. “At present we are facing a major problem is how to improve the role of nonverbal communication in intercultural communication and the relationship between nonverbal communication research and foreign language teaching.” (Bi 15) The understanding of nonverbal communication in cross-cultural communication and its impact on the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language, which shows that the study of nonverbal communication behavior and its role in teaching Chinese as a foreign language has caused that it is of course not enough in China’s teaching circles, but of course we are still not enough, so we should have a sense of responsibility and urgency, strengthen the research on nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, and make a major breakthrough as soon as possible.

Studies have shown that nonverbal communicative behavior is generally believed to begin after the Second World War. Humans communicated through body language. It is true that nonverbal behavior is used as a history of communicative behavior. After the twentieth century, the research on nonverbal communication has made a breakthrough. The foundation of Bird Whittle is “Introduction to Body Language” and his introduction to “The Beginning of Body Science” in the academic world. It is considered to be a nonverbal communication research as an independent discrete discipline. Hall’s “Silent Language”, which mainly studies nonverbal communication through the study of different ethnic groups. Their nonverbal communicative behaviors are systematically summarized and studied. The book points out that in the communicative behavior, cultural factors provide many theoretical foundations for the study of nonverbal communicative behavior.

The 1990s was a great development era for nonverbal communication behavior research, and the content began to gradually deepen into the study of various postures of human body. The work of Friesen and Ekman is the most contributor in this field. The era is a summary and comprehensive period of the publication and research results of a great deal of works. The most famous book in this era is Faster’s Human Language, he introduced some research results on Western human language, and also told in the book that how to accurately understand nonverbal communication information and more effectively control one’s human language in social interactions. Professor Lebron Brosnaan of the United States: Nonverbal Communication Between China and English-speaking Countries. For the first time, the book compares the nonverbal communication between China and English-speaking countries in a relatively comprehensive and systematic way, and proposes the difference between Chinese and English “gathering type” and “discrete type”. The core of the difference in nonverbal communication behavior provides us with valuable information for teachers of Chinese as a foreign language, and provides extremely useful guidance for further discussion on the differences between Chinese and English nonverbal communication behaviors.

2.3 The Purpose and Significance of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

From the perspective of intercultural communication, the paper focuses on the nonverbal behaviors in terms of types and cultural meaning, and studies the practicality of nonverbal communication in the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Through analyzing some teaching videos and relative books to conduct empirical research, to understand students’ attitudes towards teachers’ nonverbal behaviors and familiarity with nonverbal communication differences, to show that the influence of cultural differences on students’ nonverbal communication ability cannot be ignored, pointing out that the teachers of external teaching should be appropriate. Use nonverbal behaviors at the same time, and pay attention to the introduction of cultural differences in this aspect, so as to comprehensively improve students’ intercultural communication ability.

Nonverbal Communication in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Nonverbal behaviors include all stimuli generated by humans and the environment other than speech acts. These stimuli are necessary conditions for the continuous occurrence of linguistic reactions and have potential information value or meaning for both the sender and the recipient of the information. Nonverbal behaviors include body language behavior, sign language behavior, gaze behavior, body distance during conversation, silent language behavior, voice, intonation, volume, painting, images, clothing, and physical gestures. These nonverbal behaviors can be used as tools for exchanging information, transmitting ideas, expressing emotional attitudes, and marking social relationships and social status of communicators, thus playing a very important role in interpersonal communication. In recent years, foreign research on nonverbal behavior has developed to a new stage, emerging disciplines such as Para-linguistics, Kinesics and Proxemics, especially the concept of communicative function.

As a carrier of information emotion, nonverbal behavior has duality: it is both a closed system and an open system. It is closed because it is prescriptive and stable in form (such as gaze, gestures, etc.) and is an elaborate and secret code; it is open because it varies for different cultures. Many visitors often feel that they have many difficulties in their language communication with strangers because they do not understand the nonverbal behavior of strangers. People who are in a foreign land often face “culture shock” (cultural resistance). Therefore, the cultural background restricts the connotation of nonverbal behavior, that is to say, the same behavior can express different meanings and emotions in intercultural communication. In the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, the teachers and the students are usually from different countries, which means it is essential for the teachers to use nonverbal behavior properly.

3.1 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Awareness

Teaching consciousness refers to the awareness related to teaching behavior in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. nonverbal communication behavior and verbal communication are combined to convey the teacher-student consciousness and can transform classroom behavior, which is indispensable in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language. As a teaching consciousness, nonverbal communication can reflect the sub-consciousness of teachers and students in the classroom. It can better express the hidden sub-consciousness. Therefore, it is especially important to explore and study nonverbal communication as teaching consciousness in the classroom.

First, love awareness. In the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language, teachers carry the mission of inheriting culture. If you dream to be a qualified foreign language teacher, you must first love this job from your heart. In terms of consciousness and behavior, students can truly feel the love that nonverbal behavior reflects in the classroom, which makes the teaching atmosphere warm and the natural teaching effect will be more effective. The famous Soviet educator, Markalenko, said: “Being a teacher can never be without a face, and a person who is not good at making expressions can’t be a teacher.” This sentence fully understands the meaning of nonverbal communication behavior for teachers.

Language has national boundaries. In some cases, it is difficult to communicate, but one’s feelings are difficult to conceal, especially in the Chinese as a foreign language class. If the teacher use nonverbal communication actions such as kindly facial expressions, gentle eyes, friendly gestures, even in the case of cultural differences and language barriers, students can still feel the love of the teacher and feel confident in learning Chinese.

Second, encouragement awareness. Good students are encouraged. Although this sentence is a bit lopsided, it is not unreasonable and shows a powerful force of encouragement. Because of the differences in language and culture, there are more or less barriers and misunderstandings, but there must be a sense of encouragement, so that students have the courage to make mistakes in the process of learning, even if they make mistakes, there will be no frustration. Body touch behavior is the nonverbal communication that teachers frequently use in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language. For example, the teacher gently pats the back and head of the student with his hand to express the care and encouragement of the student. However, foreign language teachers should care for the students’ nationality, gender, age and other factors when using this nonverbal action, because in some countries, if this action is used improperly, it will be offensive or infringing on the other party.

Third, responsibility awareness. In the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language, nonverbal communication behavior can express the teacher’s sense of responsibility. The use of nonverbal communicative behaviors such as the choice of gait, costumes and accessories for foreign language teachers can produce unexpected teaching effects and have an irreplaceable role. In order to complete the teaching tasks, the teacher’s instrument, posture and temperament in the classroom should always convey beautiful information. Generous and textured dress, chic and calm posture, decent and extremely stylish hair style, elegant and sincere, simple and calm temperament is appreciated by modern students. Classroom teaching organized and participated by teachers with such an image can attract students to a large extent, and their teaching will be recognized by students invisibly, and the teaching effect will be more effective.

3.2 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Skill

Nonverbal communication as a teaching skill mainly refers to the method and skill used in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language to optimize the teaching effect. How to help students deepen their impressions and attract students’ attention, how to inspire students to think about problems, how to motivate students’ initiative and enthusiasm, and how to adjust the classroom atmosphere are all issues that need to be studied in the Chinese language classroom. nonverbal communication as a teaching skill is a must for foreign language teachers, and it has a positive effect on achieving good teaching results. Teaching Chinese as a foreign language must have certain teaching skills, otherwise the teaching will become dull and even cause counterproductive effects.

In the process of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, teachers usually use nonverbal communication behaviors for verbal communication content services, or to attract students’ attention in the classroom, not for nonverbal communication behavior itself. Some situations in verbal communication appear to be rigorous and severe, which will cause harm to students. nonverbal communication is more euphemistic at this time, and often uses small movements to attract students’ attention. For example, a rhythmic clap (for example, a total of five shots, the last three shots are particularly fast.) Clap hands can effectively attract the attention of students, students will stop the activities that are being carried out when they hear the teacher clapping, and then quiet down. Especially in the primary class, nonverbal communication can attract students’ attention, because sometimes the students in the primary class can’t understand the instructions of the teacher. The teacher can use action instructions to have more time to teach and to heighten the efficiency of class.

Nonverbal communication behavior is also applied to classroom teaching. It can maintain classroom order and regulate classroom atmosphere. A class is basically maintained for about forty minutes. It is impossible to concentrate all the time, the passion is full, and the classroom discipline is not always good. Therefore, teachers must grasp the rhythm of the class and make full use of the effective combination of nonverbal communication behavior and language communication behavior to adjust and control the teaching process. For example, in combination with silence, short pauses to maintain classroom order, use rich facial expressions such as encouragement and expectation to convey ideas, and use rich and diverse body language to display teaching content.

In order to get good teaching results, it is especially important to mobilize the ardour of the students. Teachers should try to break the inertia of traditional thinking, appropriately change the negative punishment into positive rewards, and mobilize the students’ learning motivation. Teachers’ eyes contact and verbal attention are very important. When students complete a learning task, foreign language teachers should encourage and praise more, use their eyes to indicate the encouragement, and let the students have the feeling that “teachers value me, because I can also learn Chinese very well”. Let the students firmly believe that they can learn Chinese well. It can be seen that if foreign language teachers use appropriate nonverbal communication, they can stimulate students’ creative ability and cognitive ability, fully arouse students’ classroom initiatives, and promote the effective implementation of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Let’s take the body language of students’ thinking as an example:

Holding your hand on your cheek is a typical gesture that expresses deep thought, interest, and attention. If the student is holding his head with one hand or both hands, leaning forward, and sometimes a little eye-shining when you are talking to him, this means that he is very interested in what you said, and the ideas of both sides are tending.

Sometimes the student will put a hand on the face, the palm of the hand will hold the chin, then the index finger will reach the cheek, the other fingers are placed on the mouth, the body moves slightly backwards away from the other side, which means that he may be against you by speaking with a critical attitude, or having an idea that is contrary to you.

The head tilted, listening to the ear for a while, grasping the chin with his hand, usually with the thumb and index finger, this gesture in the world is considered to mean “very good, let me consider”. Older students also adopt this gesture when making decisions. The facial expression accompanying this posture is often squinting, as if to see the key to the problem from a distance.

Through the teacher’s question, observe the reaction of students’ thinking, and then study the use of nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, the author can find the phenomenon: when the students think carefully about the problem, the performance behavior is bowed, the brow is locked, the information is read, and the pen is written on the book from time to time; when the students show that the body turns to the side and turns the pen in the hand; when the nonverbal movements such as sluggish eyes indicate that they are not willing to think about the problem or are not interested in the teacher’s question. It can be seen that through the nonverbal action, teachers can also observe the students’ thinking.

3.3 Nonverbal Communication as a Teaching Method

The teaching method is a general term for the methods and means used by teachers and students in order to achieve collective teaching goals and accomplish common teaching tasks. The nonverbal communication enables the teachers of Chinese to vividly convey the meanings to the students. The students have learned the cultural knowledge in the educational activities, and the communicative ability has been improved in the atmosphere of easy classroom transfer. Thus, this kind of teaching method cannot be ignored. In short, the clever use of nonverbal teaching methods can active the classroom atmosphere, and mobilize the students’ enthusiasm for learning, arouse students’ interest in learning, and truly achieve “speaking and teaching”.

The Application of Nonverbal Acts in the Classroom of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

In the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, beginners need to learn Chinese from words and sentences. As we all know, Chinese is very complicated. The same word has completely diverse meanings because of the diverse tones, and the same words have different meanings in different contexts. Besides, there are many misunderstandings and jokes in the process of communication between teachers and students because of the different culture and customs of the country. So, under these circumstances, how do teachers convey these contents clearly and accurately? Using speech language only is absolutely impossible to achieve the best results. Teachers often use a variety of nonverbal acts to vividly express meaning and to optimize classroom effects.

4.1 Nonverbal Acts in Words Teaching

When communicating in a new language, beginners often use a word or words to convey the basic meaning. Therefore, it is essential for them to study words. This section explores the nonverbal behavior commonly used by teachers in the classroom through some teaching examples which from the two aspects of phonology and meaning.

4.1.1 Nonverbal Acts in Phonetic Teaching

In listening, speaking, reading and writing, the most important element is speaking. Like English, Chinese learning begins with the basic syllable, which is called Pinyin in Chinese. Each syllable in Chinese consists of two parts: the initials (consonant) and the finals (vowel). In the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language, 63 Chinese Pinyin and 4 tones make it difficult to master them completely by teaching students to read only. Teachers need to use their mouths, gestures and some relative pictures to demonstrate the standard pronunciation. Exaggerated body and facial language enable students master the accurate pronunciation easily. Chinese learners will find some similar sounds in their mother tongue to help them remember the pronunciation, just like we used pinyin to learn English when we were young. Many pinyin are able to find similar pronunciations in their mother tongue, which is very helpful to learn it. But some Pinyin can’t find a substitute. For example, the vowel “ü” never happened to English speakers. The teacher will use the pronunciation of “i” to help the students to pronounce the sound of “ü” accurately, because they share the same tongue position. The teacher tells the students to pronounce “i” first, and then keep the same tongue position, and move their mouths from wide position to the middle. The teacher demonstrates with the movement of hands and mouth, so that students can easily imitate their pronunciation position, thus mastering the pronunciation of “ü”. It is also difficult to pronounce the consonant “zh”. The teacher tells the students that the tone needs to be rolled up by drawing a simple tongue bitmap, at the same time, the teacher uses her hands to do the same roll-up action. The pronunciation can be basically mastered by repeated imitation.

According to the above examples, we can see that in the process of teaching Pinyin, teachers often use mouth shapes and hand movements to demonstrate pronunciation. If teachers only read the pronunciation so that students can imitate infinitely, it is certainly impossible to achieve such a good teaching effect.

4.1.2 Nonverbal Acts in Word Meaning Teaching

Chinese is a very complicated language, which can be casually used wrongly and lead to unnecessary misunderstanding. This section analyzes nonverbal acts in teaching Chinese as a foreign language through the different meanings expressed by polysyllabic words and vocabulary in different contexts. Polysyllabic characters refer to two or more sounds in a word. Diverse pronunciations have different meanings, different usage, and often different parts of speech. For example, the word “好” has two pronunciations. When it is read “hǎo”, which means good, against the word bad. When teachers praise their students, they can use the word, and with the action of a thumbs up, the students will be able to grasp the meaning of the word in an instant. When it is read “hào”, which means like, against the word hate. Do the identical words mean different things in different situations? The answer is absolutely “yes”. One of the most common words: “方便”. The word is easily confused by foreigners. Then, how should teachers convey the meaning of the word to the students? One of the best ways is role play. By dressing up and scene simulation, the students can easily get the use of the same words in different situations.

Scene 1: The teacher is in the office, the students want to ask the teacher for leave. “Is it convenient for you, please?” So that the student can understand the convenience is to ask if there is time.

Scene 2: As a passer-by, the teacher is wandering in the street, the student ran hurriedly with covering his stomach to ask for the way to toilet. “I want to be convenient.” The convenience here is to go to the bathroom.

Scene 3: the teacher acts as the buyer, the student acts as the seller. The seller is explaining the equipment near the house to the buyer. “It’s a very convenient place to live.” The convenience here only means this place is convenient.

From some of the examples above, we can figure out that when teachers explain the meaning of the word, they usually dress up and practice the situation to substitute the students for the characters. Let students understand the usage of every word and use these words flexibly in future communication.

4.2 Nonverbal Acts in Simple Sentences Teaching

Chinese beginners are able to speak simple sentences, which is the key to communicate with people. This section analyzes the nonverbal acts in the teaching process of teachers through the teaching examples of subject-predicate sentence and subject-predicate object sentence.

There are only two elements in the subject-predicate sentence, one is the subject and the other is the predicate verb. For example, 我走了; 你来了; 老师进来了, etc. The component of the subject-predicate object adds an object on the basis of the subject-predicate sentence, that is, the acceptor of the action. For example, 我爱你; 他吃饭; 他们打篮球, etc. In Chinese as a foreign language classroom, teachers use physical objects, pictures, diagrams and scene simulation to show and practice sentence patterns to make the contact process more intuitive and realistic. The following are teaching examples of a subject-predicate sentence and a subject-predicate object sentence. Example 1: The teacher pointed to himself, the student said 我, the teacher made the physical movement of walking, the student said 走, the teacher did the movement while guiding the students to make sentences: 我走了. Then a set of subjects and a set of predicate verbs are displayed with cards to guide the students to make their own sentences. Example 2: The teacher prepared some picture cards of nouns and verbs in advance and pasted them on the blackboard in class. The teacher first selected a subject小明, a predicate verb 吃, and finally chose a noun 汉堡包. Then put them in one sentence in order: 小明吃汉堡包. Then guide the students to choose the three components, and then make sentences and say it. Throughout the process, the teacher continued to give the students positive and appreciative eyes, encouraged more students to say it, and then took the lead in applauding. Finally, the game drills. Have three students on stage, wearing different cards, the other students compete on saying sentences. The classroom atmosphere is very good, the students master the use of subject-predicate sentence and subject-predicate object sentence by practicing them continuously.

In the whole simple sentence teaching class, teachers fully combine verbal and nonverbal acts to convey meaning, and continue to encourage and affirm students, so as to achieve the best teaching effects.

4.3 The Errors in Nonverbal Communication and the Causes

Nonverbal acts do help teachers convey their meaning accurately and enable students to understand and use it. However, teachers and students often come from different countries, live in different cultural backgrounds, the same actions can easily lead to different understandings, resulting in misunderstanding. For example: thumbs-up gestures, almost universally recognized as good, high, wonderful, all smooth, excellent, and so on. However, there are many exceptions: In the United States and parts of Europe, thumbs-up are usually used for hitchhiking; In Nigeria, such gestures are considered insulting; In Germany it stands for number 1; In Japan it stands for number 5; In Australia it is denounced as abusive; In Iran, as well as in many Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, thumbs-up is a provocative act, almost the same as the middle finger commonly used in the West. This section analyzes the causes of such kind of misusage. In Chinese as a foreign language class, teachers can learn about each student in advance according to the following points, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.

4.3.1 The Difference of Nonverbal Communication in Different Cultures

Culture means all the wisdom gained through generations of efforts. In a sense, culture is all-encompassing and omnipresent. It includes both concrete material and world views. Hall compares culture to icebergs, pointing out that most of the potential icebergs in culture exist in human subconsciousness, so it is difficult to master them, especially differences in beliefs, values, customs, etc., often leading to the differences in nonverbal language between China and the West. China is a collectivist country, being more concerned with group, unity and face. People often regard communication as a mean of establishing and maintaining social relations, so they pay more attention to the process of communication and harmony. In China, the same word with different tones, facial expressions may have totally different meanings. To understand the speaker clearly, the listener should care about the body language and context. While in the West, as a typical individualist country that emphasizes self, foreign people regard communication as a mean to achieve their goals, so they emphasize the practical functionality of communication. For most of the time, nonverbal language coincides with what they say.

Based on the current situation of China’s foreign teaching and the combination of practice, the proper use of nonverbal communication behavior in foreign language teaching helps to motivate students’ enthusiasm and create an active atmosphere. By studying the classification and function of nonverbal communication, and analyzing the differences between Chinese and American nonverbal behavior and their cultural reasons, we must not only recognize the existence of differences, but also analyze their influence on intercultural communication and correctly treat different cultures. The differences between the two, strengthen the tolerance of different cultural models, and truly grasp and flexibly use nonverbal behavior.

4.3.2 Differences in Teaching Environment

In the diversified cultural background of the world, the cultural diversity brought about by different national borders directly leads to the difference in nonverbal communication behavior. This will naturally have some impacts on Chinese teaching. Each country has its own beliefs, culture and customs, so it is necessary to take into account the differences in regional culture when teaching. For different countries, teachers should find a way that students can accept when they are learning Chinese culture and Chinese characters.

For example, foreign students in China and foreign students in their own countries have different troubles in Chinese learning. Foreign students in China generally have a certain foundation for Chinese because of family influence. Even Chinese-speaking students use Chinese or dialects at home, and they have an advantage in Chinese learning. Foreign non-Chinese students obviously do not have such advantages. In particular, the mother tongue is recorded in phonograms. When learning Chinese written in ideograms, it is generally difficult to encounter. However, because students learn from scratch, the differences between Chinese and Western cultures make students have great curiosity about Chinese culture, and their interest in learning it will also increase. In general, foreign language teachers in teaching process can make use of the differences in this language background to allow students to help each other and make progress together.

Conclusion

Nonverbal communication is the oldest communicative mode of human beings and it is indispensable. It cooperates with verbal communication to reach a complete communication. Teaching Chinese as a foreign language is a cross-language, cross-cultural communication process between teachers and students. Therefore, nonverbal communication takes up an essential position in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Although nonverbal communication research covers a wide range, the research in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language is still not deep enough. At present, it is still uncommon for teachers to be proficient or correct in the use of nonverbal communication in the classroom of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. This paper pays close attention to nonverbal communication and its application in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

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